Doctors in Lancet study accuse Trump administration of causing 461,000 unnecessary deaths in a year due to health policies - in addition to 180,000 needless COVID-19 fatalities
A new Lancet study has accused the Trump administration of causing 461,000 unnecessary deaths in a year - in addition to 180,000 needless COVID-19 deaths - because of inadequate healthcare policies.
The report from the British medical journal - titled Public policy and health in the Trump era - was carried out by 33 researchers from the likes of Harvard and the University of California at San Francisco.
The study, which was highly critical of both Donald Trump's policies and what it described as America's inadequate healthcare system, found that 461,000 unnecessary, or excess, deaths occurred in 2018.
It reached that figure by comparing US life expectancy to the equivalent averages in the other G7 countries, including: Japan, Italy, France, Canada, UK, Germany.
That figure is in addition to the 180,000 - or 40 percent - of the US COVID-19 deaths that the study warns could have been averted.
A new Lancet study has accused the Trump administration of causing 461,000 unnecessary deaths in a year - in addition to 180,000 needless COVID-19 deaths - because of inadequate healthcare policies
The number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 has surpassed 471,000 but stood at about 450,000 when the study was completed.
According to the study, those 180,000 COVID deaths could have been avoided if the US death rate mirrored the average of the other G7 nations.
'Life expectancy in the USA was average among high-income nations in 1980, by 1995, it was 2.2 years shorter than the average of other G7 countries, and by 2018, the gap had widened to 3.4 years,' the report said.
'The extent of difference can also be quantified as the number of missing Americans- ie, the number of US residents who would still be alive if age-specific mortality rates in the USA had remained equal to the average of the other six G7 nations.
'By this measure, in 2018 alone, 461 000 Americans went missing, an annual figure that has been increasing since 1980. Most of the US mortality excess is among people younger than 65 years.
'If US death rates were equivalent to those of other G7 nations, two of five deaths before age 65 years would have been averted.
'To put this number in context, the number of missing Americans each year is more than the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the USA in all of 2020.'
The report from the British medical journal - titled Public policy and health in the Trump era - found that 461,000 unnecessary, or excess, deaths occurred in 2018
The report said that life expectancy in the USA was average among high-income nations in 1980, by 1995, it was 2.2 years shorter than the average of other G7 countries, and by 2018, the gap had widened to 3.4 years
The report slammed Trump's 'inept and insufficient' response to the pandemic but did note that it was magnified by health issues that have been accruing across America over the last four decades.
'Instead of galvanizing the US populace to fight the pandemic, President Trump publicly dismissed its threat (despite privately acknowledging it), discouraged action as infection spread, and eschewed international cooperation,' the report said.
'His refusal to develop a national strategy worsened shortages of personal protective equipment and diagnostic tests. President Trump politicized mask-wearing and school reopenings and convened indoor events attended by thousands, where masks were discouraged and physical distancing was impossible.
'The COVID-19 pandemic is one of many US health failures.'
The report also noted how Trump eliminated the National Security Council's global health team and put in place a CDC hiring freeze that left saw 700 jobs unfilled as the pandemic broke out.
In addition to his actions regarding COVID, the report said the Trump administration weakened the Affordable Care Act and 2.3 million Americans lost their health insurance after he took office.
While being highly critical of Trump, the report repeatedly notes that the health policy issues plaguing the US came well before he took office in 2017.
The number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 has surpassed 471,000 but stood at about 450,000 when the study was completed. According to the study, those 180,000 COVID deaths could have been avoided
The co-chairs of the commission behind the report, Dr Steffie Woolhandler and Dr David Himmelstein, are co-founders of the Physicians for a National Health Program - a group that advocates for a single-payer health system
'The disturbing truth is that many of President Trump's policies do not represent a radical break with the past but have merely accelerated the decades-long trend of lagging life expectancy that reflects deep and longstanding flaws in US economic, health, and social policy,' the report said.
'These flaws are not only evident in faltering longevity — and the especially sluggish progress in reducing deaths amenable to health care — but also in the widening gaps in mortality across social class and geography and the chronically high mortality of Black and Indigenous people.'
The report was put out by Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era, which was set up in 2017 when Trump took office to analyze his administration's policies.
Among the recommendations the commission suggested to improve the health of Americans included adopting a single-payer health system.
The co-chairs of the commission behind the report, Dr Steffie Woolhandler and Dr David Himmelstein, are co-founders of the Physicians for a National Health Program - a group that advocates for a single-payer health system.
The Lancet, which is one of the world's leading medical journals, has previously published reports that are highly critical of Trump, including an editorial last year calling for him not to be re-elected because he undermined the CDC.
It also retracted a medical study last year that warned against using a drug championed by Trump after flaring accusations of political-point scoring.
The paper's claim that hydroxychloroquine increases the risk of death in Covid-19 patients was used by rivals as a stick to beat Trump, who himself took the drug and hailed it a 'game-changer' in the war on coronavirus.
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